Semi-final Sweden - Switzerland

Once again it is Finland and Sweden that will clash on the WFC final. Sweden secured their spot with a 3-2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1) victory over Switzerland who were in it all the way to howl of the the final buzzer.

Magnus Svensson opened the scoring in the middle of the first period as Rasmus Sundstedt sent him an excellent backhand pass and Svensson slammed the ball right in. Mattias Wallgren's two-minute penalty cost Sweden their lead when Simon Stucki was able to beat Patrik Jansson with a low shot that went in by the left post. Matthias Hofbauer got the assist.

Switzerland was able to hold the yellow wave back almost until the end of the second period but not quite. The next goal of the game finally brought Peter Fischerström  his first point of the tournament when he sent a pass forward to Mattias Helgesson who fired right away.
The Swiss had most of their best scoring opportunities in the second period but were careless in finishing  with a shot after another flying wide or over the net.

Switzerland had to kill Simon Stucki's penalty in the beginning of the third period and even after that it was all Sweden. They were able to keep the ball in the offensive zone but still, good scoring opportunities were few.
With the ten-minute mark in the period approaching, Switzerland was finally able to build up pressure in the offensive end and it paid off as Fredrik Djurling had to lock Matthias Hofbauer's stick as he was teaching for the ball right on the crease. The referee crossed his arms for a penalty shot but Sweden's goalkeeper Patrik Jansson was able to kick the ball off Matthias Hofbauer's blade with the tip of his toe.
The missed penalty shot meant a two-minute penalty for Djurling, and on the power play Emanuel Antener tipped Markus Gerber's distance shot in by the far post for 2-2. The best moment of the night for the Swiss team and most of the audience but only for about a minute. That's when Daniel Calebsson's pass from the left took a deflection off a defenseman’s blade and flew to the other side where defenseman Matthias Helgesson had emerged just in time to shoot a skillful volley in the front corner.

Sweden was able to play most of remaining minutes off rolling the ball around the rink but Switzerland had one more shot for it. In the dying seconds of the game, Patrik Jansson still had to make the decisive save on a low shot on the far corner.

- Switzerland has a a very competent team and they have developed their game a lot, Sweden's coach Conny Svensson said.
- We didn't get the players to play as aggressive as we wanted and they seemed a bit nervous. We did not follow our tactics the whole game. The Swiss held the ball a lot and that's not what we want. We spent too much time on the defensive today and tomorrow we'll have to a lot more aggressive.

Two goals against is not that bad but wee need to do a better job in the offensive tomorrow, Sweden's goalkeeper Patrik Jansson who was awarded as the best player of his team said.
- There will be absolutely no extra pressure for us playing here on Hartwall Areena as I know us Swedes are used to winning here.

Despite the loss, Swiss coach Rene Berliat saw good things in his team's performance.
- In the first period, we were a bit lucky with Sweden not scoring in the beginning but in the second we were a lot more dominant. That was different from two years ago when we had to fall back in defense mot of the game.

Switzerland's best player Simon Stucki said his team noticed the 10,000 spectators of which the vas majority was supporting Switzerland tonight.
- It's just too bad we still lost the game.